Melbourne is one of the largest cities in Australia and the country’s cultural and sports capital. It hosts Fashion Week, the Formula 1 Grand Prix, the Melbourne Cup (the annual Thoroughbred horse race), and the Australian Open tennis tournament. In 2015, for the fifth time, The Economist named Melbourne the world’s most liveable city.

The most convenient and the fastest way to get to southern Australia is to fly from Moscow to Melbourne. Aeroflot doesn’t operate direct flights; you’ll need to transfer in China (for example, in Hong Kong, Guangzhou or Beijing). The plane arrives at Tullamarine International Airport, 23 kilometres from the city. The best deals sell out quickly, so we recommend booking in advance.

General flight information Moscow → Melbourne

Distance between cities

14 431 km

Time difference in winter

+7 h

Time difference in summer

+8 h

Average flight time

29 h 10 min

What to see

The heart of the city is Federation Square, situated near the Yarra River and occupying a whole block. At different points in time, train depots, the Princess Bridge railway station and a mosque stood here. At the Information Centre across from St. Paul's Cathedral, you can get a map of the square as well as brochures and maps of almost all tourist routes, both pedestrian and bicycle.

Take a free tourist tram from the square if you’re interested in a sightseeing tour. To distinguish it from other trams, it is painted burgundy, and the tram stop is marked with a special sign, a circle of the same color. By the way, since being laid in 1885, Melbourne’s tram network has become the largest in the world.

You can look get a bird's-eye view of the city from the observation deck on the 88th floor of the 300-metre Eureka Tower. This is the tallest skyscraper in Melbourne and the 16th tallest residential building in the world. Another building that attracts tourists with its unusual architecture is the Arts Centre Melbourne, designed in the High-Tech style. It includes the National Theatre, as well as two concert venues, the Hamer Hall and the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

Not far from Melbourne, along the renowned tourist route around Australia, you will find the famous natural landmark called the Twelve Apostles, a group of limestone rocks that formed in an interesting shape as a result of the impact of wind and salt water. The rocks were originally called Sow and Pigs. In the 1950s, their name changed to the more sonorous Twelve Apostles despite the fact that by that time, only nine stacks remained. Nowadays, there are eight.